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A Blog by André L. Vasconcelos

BBH Singapore hits the ball out of the park in its new ad for IKEA, spoofing Stanley Kubrik’s masterpiece The Shining in a beautifully directed video that recreates Danny’s cycling through the halls of the Overlook Hotel in an apparently deserted and darkened IKEA store.

The pay-off is that the store is now open until 11pm every night, thus allowing its shoppers to buy colourful plastic trinkets and Scandinavian metal-band sounding furniture late into the night. It might not be the most creative of concepts, but the execution is flawless and the several blink-and-miss details scattered along the video, including the silly pun at the very end, hit the spot for us Kubrik fans.

Have you ever wondered how many times your heart has beaten since you were born (1 billion), how many generations of house flies have birthed since then (18,648), how many major earthquakes have there been (385) or how much the Antarctic ozone hole has increased (21 million km2)?

Well, BBC’s stylish new website “Your Life on Earth” will tell you all this and a whole lot more.

I’m a sucker for both statistics and random trivia, and to have so much of it put into perspective while using my birth date as reference totally tickles the more existentialist fibres in my body.

The fact that the website is beautifully designed, completely responsive and as fun as it is insightful only adds to the experience.

You know Utopia, that wonderfully original British TV show everyone loves?

Yeah, that one.

Well, according to Den of Geek, C4 isn’t renewing it for a third season. This is what I have to say on the matter:

I’m pretty sure the storyline will continue in some form or another, most likely a comic book series or graphic novel as that would be exactly as meta as a IP as Utopia should be, but I have to admit I’m quite saddened with this piece of news.

I follow and watch around a dozen TV Shows (at least), but there are only a handful of them that I truly consider myself a fan of. Utopia is, sorry, was, one of them.

Here’s to hoping Amazon, Netflix, or some other platform picks up on it and keeps the story going. *Wink**Wink**Nudge**Nudge*

Like this:

I was (am) a huge fan of Breaking Bad (I even own one of those hipster trendy Heisenberg t-shirts) and, like every one else, I loved the character of Saul Goodman, Walter’s more-than-shady lawyer.

However, when I heard a spin-off was coming along I wasn’t immediately on-board with the whole idea. I like shows that end and stay ended, and Breaking Bad’s finale was a remarkable achievement considering all the hype and pressure around it. I never felt I needed more Breaking Bad and certainly not more Saul Goodman.

However, the show’s brilliant marketing campaign is gradually selling me on the spin-off. I might not need it, but I can sure as hell enjoy it. I mean, have you seen the fauxdvertising billboards?

If that doesn’t make you want to watch the show, maybe the first trailer for the show – a music video called Better Call Saul performed by the deep rumbling voice and mad guitar skills of Junior Brown – will. Check it out:

The lyrics are clever and the music is spot on. If the show is half as good as its promotion, it’ll be damn great.

While the Dollar Shave Club is the real deal, I’m not entirely sure how serious its expensive counterpart is. The thing is, I don’t really care. The video is witty, brilliantly scripted, competently acted and well directed, creating an absurdist piece of fauxdvertising (or not) which really struck a nerve with me. The “And Presto! You’re ready to make babies… on purpose” line in the end really seals the deal with me.

Also not surprising at all: Line rules in Japan, Greece, the Ukraine and Mother Russia still think Vibe is hip, Hangouts is nowhere to be seen and the 1.3 billion Chinese using something no one else has ever heard about.